This story mentions suicide. If you are in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.
A few years ago, you’d never have been able to tell that Ana Gomez was depressed.
“I was always a social butterfly,” Gomez, 28, told Mirror Indy. “I was always laughing. I was always making sure everybody was OK, even if they were not. But I was afraid to be with myself because that’s when I had to face reality.”
In 2017, she tried to take her own life for the seventh time. Her heart stopped. After the paramedics brought her back, Gomez thought for the first time about what it would be like for her mom if she died.
“To see that it was going to pain her to see my death,” she said, “after that, I knew I had to get help.”
Nearly seven years later, as a survivor, Gómez is passionate about taking the stigma out of depression and suicide prevention. She was one of around two dozen people who gathered at the Indiana Statehouse this week for the Indiana chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s 10th annual advocacy day.
The attendees, a majority of which were young people, met with lawmakers Wednesday, Feb. 28, to support legislation that bolsters mental health resources for Hoosiers.
One of those bills is Senate Bill 214, a bipartisan bill that would require the Indiana Department of Education to publish resources online and in schools about mental health, safety and youth suicide.
That’s especially relevant as lawmakers and advocates grapple with the mental health crisis in Indiana, prevalent especially among younger Hoosiers. In 2021, more than 1,100 people died by suicide in Indiana, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of that number, 190 were between the age of 10 and 24, making suicide the second leading cause of death for young people in Indiana.
“We can do more for young people,” Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, told attendees Wednesday. “We can do more for young adults.”
Mental health is a crisis for young Hoosiers
Study after study has shown that young people are struggling with mental health.
A recent report from the Indiana Youth Institute found that more than a third of Hoosier high schoolers reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day in a two-week period. The state has the 10th worst rate nationally for children at risk of depression.
That same report said 17% of Indiana high school students have seriously considered suicide. A 2023 survey from Indiana University Bloomington found that nearly 13% of Indiana college students seriously considered suicide in the last year.
While the problem can feel overwhelming, advocates say a big part of addressing it is bringing the topics of suicide and depression — which can often feel taboo — out of the shadows and having honest conversations with friends and loved ones.
“We shouldn’t have to change our inflection in our voice when we talk about mental health and suicide,” Brandon Puszkiewicz, Indiana programs manager for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, told Mirror Indy. “It should very much be something that we just have as a normal part of an everyday conversation, checking in with people.”
And though children and young adults are struggling, they’re also leading the charge to end the stigma about depression. Gomez said she was raised not to cry or express her emotions, something she thinks is the result of generational trauma. As a young person, she’s flipping the switch and ending the cycle.
“I am taking counseling,” she said. “I am taking care of my mental health. I am making this a priority, because if I don’t, then who will?”
In the years since Gomez decided to get help, a lot has changed in her life. She’s working at Amazon, where she said she feels like her mental health is valued. She’s earning her degree online in software engineering at Southern New Hampshire University.
Gomez also advocates for suicide prevention not just once a year at the Statehouse, but often through her church. She wants people who are struggling like she was to know that there’s hope, and they can always ask for help.
“It is OK to say ‘I’m not OK,’” she said. “It is OK to express your emotions. It is OK to be vulnerable — that’s the hardest.”
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich contributed to this story.
Claire Rafford covers higher education for Mirror Indy in partnership with Open Campus. Got a story about mental health and college students? Reach reporter Claire Rafford at claire.rafford@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X/Instagram @clairerafford.
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